Steve Double, Member of Parliament for St Austell and Newquay, has today welcomed a pledge from new Energy Secretary Amber Rudd to expedite laws giving communities the power to block onshore wind farms.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Ms Rudd said she wanted to make it impossible for investors to build onshore wind farms without local consent.
“This is really important. No more onshore wind farm subsidies and no more onshore wind farms without local community support,” she said,
“That’s going to be one of the first things we’re going to do. I’ve put a rocket under the team to get it done.”
Commenting, Steve said,
“I was pleased to see a commitment in the Conservative Manifesto to the ending of government subsidies that were propping up many large scale wind turbine developments. I am delighted to see that this Government has wasted no time in implementing these promised changes, and hope to see this included in next week’s Queen’s Speech.
I have consistently campaigned against non-community backed wind turbine applications throughout mid-Cornwall and have been successful in getting several applications halted. I hope that the removal of these incentives will mark the beginning of the end of the large number of senseless applications for these unsightly and ineffective turbines that so many of you in our constituency simply do not want”.